Emerging from the shadow of Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, hundreds of worshippers joined the Church of the Nativity mass in Bethlehem as the Palestinian city ushered in a festive Christmas for first time in two years.
Throughout the war that began with Hamas' incursion on Israel in October 2023, a somber tone had marked Christmases in the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ. But celebrations returned full swing Wednesday with crowded parades and music in the occupied West Bank city, as a fragile truce held in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people face winter in makeshift tents.
With pews of the Church of the Nativity filled long before midnight, many stood or sat on the floor for the traditional mass to usher in Christmas Day.
At 11:15 p.m. (9:15 p.m. GMT) organ music rang out as a procession of dozens of clergymen entered, followed by Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who blessed the crowd with signs of the cross.
In his homily, Pizzaballa urged peace, hope and rebirth, saying the Nativity story still held relevance in the turbulence of modern times.
